There are arms around me, crushing me.
Holding me tight.
A solid, muscular chest against my back, and the soft sound of a man’s laughter spilling down my neck.
“Got you,” he says.
I make a strange, unhinged sound as he sets me down.
He offers me his arm because he’s a gentleman. A gentleman who knows I don’t have a lick of sense in my body right now, or the ability to remain upright without support.
“You’re faster than you look,” he says as though chasing people around in the dead of night is a perfectly normal thing to do.
“I came in third in a cross-country race at school once,” I tell him. “I didn’t really care for cross-country. It’s not like I trained or anything. I just decided to apply myself that one time, and that was the result.”
He bobs his head, likely unsure how to respond to such nonsense.
We amble back to the house, taking our sweet time getting there. The entire time, I fervently thank God that the man at my side has the sense of smell of a telephone book. For if not, he’d never in a million, billion years be able to miss the fact that I have slick running down to my knees.
16
Jensen
Imakeitallthe way to the door leading to my rooms, thinking I’ve gotten away with it. Thinking I’ve had a little brush with insanity, but that it didn’t turn out too badly. I have my hand on my doorhandle—I’m this close to escape—when Lord Augustus speaks.
“You’re aroused,” he says evenly.
“Hmm?” I squeak, clenching my cheeks together so hard that another little spurt of slick escapes me. I flounder quite significantly at that, looking around frantically, unsure if I should throw myself into my room and slam the door behind me, or if I should stay where I am and face the music.
As it turns out, my legs are completely lame, so the choice is taken from me.
“You’re an omegaunder my roof.” He emphasizes “under my roof,” and though it takes a second, I quickly realize the significance of that. The Old Ways. He’s talking about the Old Ways.
In the old days, the Old Ways dictated that when an omega rested their head under an alpha’s roof, the alpha assumed responsibility for them. The alpha was honor-bound to take care of the omega, to keep them safe and protected, to ensure their every need was met for the duration of their stay.
It now occurs to me that yes, under the Old Ways, when an alpha assumed responsibility for an omega, ensuring their sexual needs were taken care of was considered part of the deal. It’s why in the old days, omegas didn’t go around merrily resting their heads under the roofs of unmated alphas.
“Oh, I, um,” I splutter.
“Do you require a release, omega?” asks the lord, earnest as can be.
I look around, left and right, checking to see if I’m being pranked. It doesn’t look like I am, but I still can’t quite get my head around the situation, so I decide to attack it with humor.
“What?” I laugh prettily into my hand to ensure he understands I’m joking. “Are you offering to suck my dick, Casanova?”
It’s funny because the man is an alpha and a lord—there’s almost no chance on Earth of him being anything other than supremely hole-centric, and we both know it.
Unfortunately, there must be something off about my delivery because the joke doesn’t land. Like, not at all. Lord Augustus doesn’t get it at all. In fact, he’s acting a lot like he’s dead fucking serious about his offer. His eyes are trained on me, his expression all sincere and shit.
“I’d be happy to,” he replies neutrally, “if that is what you want.”
“Wh-what now?” I breathe.
“I said, I’d be happy to blow you if that is what you want”—he doesn’t even have the grace to pause there, he just sails straighton—“but it isn’t. If you require a release, I’ll give you the one you desire.”
I swear to God, I think this man might mean it. I think he’s seriously standing in my hallway, in a velvet dinner jacket no less, with twigs from a conifer hedge stuck in his hair, offering to pummel my prostate because I happen to be sleeping under his roof.
And you know what, when I think about it, he bloody well should. I’ve gone above and beyond the scope of my job description big time tonight. I’ve put on a spectacular performance, I’ve chased away obsessed omegas left, right, and center, and I’ve dealt with their awful families as decisively.
